Celebrating with something special: with Jimmy Wong

It may be your turn to bring something special to an occasion like a birthday, family gathering, baby shower or simply having friends over for afternoon tea. Celebrations are always better, in my opinion, with cake.

Making a cake is not as scary as you might think and choosing the right cake can often be tricky. Well, I have a simple recipe for you. It’s a sure fire winner for these special occasions. It’s my saffron-infused carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. This cake is a refreshing change from your basic sponge cake and best of all it is sensationally simple to make. The beautiful thing is that it keeps well for days, so you can make it well in advance, no more running around in the last minute. This cake is not too sweet and has the right proportion of cream cheese frosting to cake which I think is the secret to why so many people I’ve served this to have really loved it.

Made with only a few simple ingredients so you will most likely have the ingredients already at home. If not, do not fret, as Joe at Crown Street Grocer and The Essential Ingredient will have you covered.

I do hope you enjoy making this cake and hope you will be celebrating with something special this coming month. Saffron infused carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B93cZlnAT5E/

Equipment

Carrot Cake 

Ingredients

• 1 cup sifted flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 pinch of saffron (8-12 strands, soaked overnight)
• 1 tsp bi carb soda
• A pinch of salt
• 1.5 cups grated raw carrots
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup canola oil

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 300g cream cheese
• 190g unsalted butter
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste

METHOD

• First line the 7-inch round cake tin with baking paper by spraying the tin with a bakers spray and using cut baking paper to line. Preheat the oven at 180c.

• Sift all dry ingredients into your mixing bowl, using the flat beater on low, start adding the canola oil, then eggs one at a time. Add in the saffron, vanilla paste, then the carrots and mix for 1 minute. Lastly add in the walnuts for 10 seconds to break down some of the whole walnuts in the mixer.

• Place the mix into the lined cake tin and into the oven for 50 minutes, ensuring you test that the cake is thoroughly cooked by using a skewer in the centre of the cake.

• While the cake is baking, make the cream cheese frosting. In the mixing bowl, put the softened cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl, using the flat beater again. Mix until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla paste and slowly add in the sifted caster sugar. Mix until sugar is well dissolved.

• Place just over half the mix into a piping bag. The remainder will be spread in the centre of the cake.

• To assemble the cake: Take the cooled cake and with a sharp knife cut horizontally in the centre of the cake. Spread the cream cheese frosting in the middle.

• Now for the frosting on top, cut 5mm wide at the tip of the disposable piping bag (if you don’t have piping bags, use your large Ziploc bags) and start piping teardrops to the top of the cake. For the remaining frosting smear to the side of the cake and using a small spatula going from bottom in an upward motion naked frost the cake. Finally finely chop up some walnuts and sprinkle to the top of the cake. Chill and serve.

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For this recipe and more, head to JimmyWongEats.com.

In collaboration with KitchenAid Australia we are giving you a chance to win your very own KitchenAid Stand Mixer with 2 bowls. For the terms and condition on how to enter, head to www.instagram.com/jimmywongeats and submit your best dish for your chance to win. Happy cooking!